Grateful for this deeply thoughtful, kind review of my book. 'Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy shakes the foundations of scholarship on Indian diplomacy in multiple ways. It establishes the transhistorical centrality of caste in India’s diplomatic engagements' indiasworld.in/coolie-migra...

Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914–67, By Kalathmika Natarajan | India's World

The book under review introduces us to a whole new world of Indian diplomacy. It brings into focus a range of new diplomatic actors, sites, and negotiating ...

indiasworld.in

BREAKING NEWS! The call for papers for the 2027 NDH conference is open! It will take place in Bilbao, from the 27th to the 29th of May 2027, on the theme of "Old and New Diplomacies of Peace and War". See the full CFP below and apply before 30/11/2026. newdiplomatichistory.org/calls-for-pa...

Calls for Papers

23 September 2026 New Diplomatic History Network 7th Conference Old and New Diplomacies of Peace and War Bizkaia Aretoa, Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) 27–29 May 2027 We are living in times of war.…

newdiplomatichistory.org

The UK government is making upwards of £4.9bn in profit from visa fees, citizenship fees & the immigration health surcharge. Meanwhile, people are getting into thousands of pounds of debt or going without food just to afford to these immigration fees. www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2026...

Government makes £5bn a year from immigration fees while applicants…

Home Office’s fees are up to 10 times the processing cost – and rising every year

thebureauinvestigates.com

I overheard some holidaymakers comparing the extreme heat of the summer of 1976 with that of 2026 and couldn't help but write a blog post about how History could help: manyheadedmonster.com/2026/09/22/a...

A plea for critical thinking humans in our world of extremes

Laura Sangha A companion piece to: What is history for? Or: Doing history/thinking historically The train to Totnes this weekend was full of late holiday makers heading for Cornwall. They were grat…

manyheadedmonster.com

In 1965, an American scholar bought her first stolen god from two boys outside a Kathmandu temple. Grains of rice were still stuck to it — offerings from worshippers. She paid less than $2 and wrote in her diary: "I don't think the temple will miss it at all." 🧵 www.himalmag.com/mary-slusser...

Mary Slusser’s secret loot of Nepal’s sacred art and heritage

A US scholar made her name as an expert on Nepal’s cultural heritage – while illicitly buying sacred artefacts and smuggling them out to the United States

himalmag.com

Nothing to see here, just racist intimidation of under-19 year olds www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/politic...

Protestors confuse Pakistan cricket team for migrants after gathering at hotel

Misinformation caused groups of people to gather at The Marriott Hotel

portsmouth.co.uk

What a MAMMOTH result. 100% the product of everyone's efforts over the summer.

Here's a new post I co-wrote with @bengjthomas.bsky.social based on an amazing sound and history event we did last year at Bristol's IC Visual Lab for the 70th anniversary of #Bandung. Diving into the music of the era was so much fun, and we historians don't seem to do it enough....Thanks Ben & HWJ!

History Workshop@historyworkshop.org.uk · last mo.

How did global connections shape the sounds of the 1950s and 1960s in the decolonising world? Su Lin Lewis and Ben GJ Thomas explore the relationship between music and internationalism in post-colonial Southeast Asia.

Five more days for #ISASAWP2026 the first @isanet.bsky.social in South Asia. Looking forward to three days of paper presentations, productive discussions, & catching up with and meeting colleagues. Follow this space for highlights of the conference!

What is the word one uses to describe a person who habitually says the opposite of what is true...? Our VC: Exeter has one of the largest humanities and social science depts and will continue to do so. Here is a helpful chart for where it is & what will happen. #DefendExeterUni @exeter.ac.uk

"A Tribute to My Martyr Teachers" on the historians and intellectuals massacred by Pakistani Army in Dhaka in 1971

A Tribute to My Martyr Teachers

The Pakistani occupation army wrote a black chapter in the history of our War of Liberation on the 14th-15th December, 1971 by killing intellectuals in Dhaka city in a planned way.

thedailystar.net

In July 1983, anti-Tamil pogroms engulfed Sri Lanka, killing and displacing Tamils and destroying homes and businesses. For many Tamil families, Black July transformed what it meant to call Sri Lanka home. https://www.himalmag.com/shakthidharan-sri-lanka-conflict-tamil-history-memoir/

Glad to share this excerpt from my book, featured on @scroll.in During a time when the Exeter management has targeted historical research and the humanities and social sciences more broadly, it matters so much to see public engagement with our work. Do read and share! scroll.in/article/1094...

This book uncovers how indentured labourers forged independent India’s foreign relations

An excerpt from the Introduction to ‘Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67’, by Kalathmika Natarajan.

scroll.in

Thanks to my lovely colleagues at Exeter for this wonderful photographic tour around the world in fabulous archives - reminders of the joys of doing history during an otherwise grim time.

Dr Laura Sangha@lsangha.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Things are so bad I joined WhatsApp (still don't have a smartphone though, no). In amongst the serious stuff in our 'at risk' chat are some Very Lovely Things. For instance, my colleague who works on the Italian Renaissance shared this photo of the Archivio di Stato di Roma, where she currently is:

Scholars from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka & beyond stand in solidarity with 500 colleagues at Exeter facing potential redundancy - deeply concerned about the damage these cuts would do to the scholarship & international partnerships that have taken years to build. #DefendExeterUni shorturl.at/sNnAb

Statement of Solidarity from South Asian Scholars against redundancies at Exeter

To add your signature to this letter, please fill out the signatory form at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdXrQ3bi3TADQwObWC34MnYPCUzXNGg8gRFD7kzaNqGhIz20g/viewform?usp=publish-editor. From...

docs.google.com

📣📣Calling all Falmouth and Exeter UCU members! Our Fal-Ex trade union day of action is tomorrow! Members and colleagues in the morning in the Woodlane campus, and all interested members of the public in the afternoon. Let’s fight for jobs and universities in Cornwall!

Something deeply troubling & shocking is happening at Exeter University*, where a mass cull of staff is planned, even though it's in surplus. No good justifications given. @jamesgdyke.info provides the details: www.technosphere.earth/the-bonfire-... *Disclosure: I have a Visiting Fellowship here. +🧵

The bonfire of the humanities

150 academic posts at the University of Exeter are to be cut, most in the humanities but also in social sciences, engineering and environmental sciences

technosphere.earth

We are ‘at risk’. Not just me, not just my wonderful colleagues in History, and not just the world-class community of teachers and researchers across the University of Exeter, but all of us who value the humanities. You can support us here: c.org/2cSZVFyhNF #defendexeteruni

Sign the Petition

Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter

c.org

In January, lovely colleagues at Exeter organised a book launch for my monograph - a beautiful event that represented the best kind of collegiality and support. 6 months later, we have been served risk of redundancy notices along with 500 staff mostly in Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences. 1/n

'What is perhaps remarkable about the Exeter cuts is that they are targeted at some of the university’s most successful departments, many of which turn over a profit even after they have made enormous and increasing contributions to the central university budget.' Read, rage and weep.

The Crisis in Britain’s Universities

The cuts that have been proposed at the University of Exeter demonstrates the crisis of purpose in Britain’s universities. Should not universities also be places to prepare for "eternal dwellings"?

johnheathershaw.substack.com

This year, Exeter University’s vice-chancellor has received a pay rise (bringing the total salary to nearly 400,000 GBP) despite hundreds of staff leaving the university under cost-cutting measures. What an absolute shame. thetab.com/2026/02/12/e...

Exeter University's vice-chancellor received £3000 pay rise despite hundreds of jobs cut

The university paid over £10,000 in compensation for staff cuts

thetab.com

🚨 PLEASE SHARE WIDELY 🚨 If you are an Exeter alumnus, and wish to express your horror at the proposed cuts to the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, please sign the Google Doc petition below. Not an alumnus? You can still help by signing the Exeter UCU petition at c.org/msXfsb2g5b 🗃️

Alumni petition against the cuts to the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

Any Exeter alumni who wish for their names to be added to the petition below should please complete the form at this link: https://forms.gle/SpdYvmmsCaJbmZft6. If you are not an alumnus, but still wis...

docs.google.com

Along with almost all of my colleagues in history, this afternoon I got an email telling me that I am at risk of redundancy. It looks like the University of Exeter sent this email to the vast majority of people in Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty. Bit hard to breath right now.

Ben Phillips@benphillips1989.bsky.social · 4mo ago

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

A statement from Exeter UCU branch @ucu.org.uk - please share far and wide.

BANGLADESH LABOUR HISTORY · 1881 — 2026 Fight for Justice 🗃️

Fight for Justice — Bangladesh Labour History 1881–2026

A digital journey through 145 years of labour struggle, resilience, and progress in Bangladesh — from colonial mills to today's garment factories.

campaign.thedailystar.net

What do frictions in the founding story of a missionary women's college in colonial India reveal about Indian women's struggles for education and internationalism? Sneha Krishnan unpacks the history of the Women's Christian College in Madras.

An Unreliable Archive of Internationalism

What do frictions in the founding story of a missionary women's college reveal about Indian women's struggles for education and internationalism? Sneha Krishnan unpacks the history of the Women's Christian College in colonial India.

historyworkshop.org.uk

My book Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy is available online now through @academic.oup.com. If you have institutional/library access to Oxford Scholarship Online, do check this out! If you're interested in reviewing the book & would like a copy, feel free to get in touch! doi.org/10.1093/oso/...

Coolie Migrants, Indian Diplomacy: Caste, Class and Indenture Abroad, 1914-67

Abstract. Over the centuries, millions of migrant laborers sailed from the Indian subcontinent, across the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, to shape what is

doi.org

Check this out! The introduction to a series that will feature some truly brilliant pieces from @smidbob.bsky.social @carolienstolte.bsky.social @sulinlewis.bsky.social @snehakrishnan.bsky.social and more!

History Workshop@historyworkshop.org.uk · 5mo ago

Today, we launch a new featured series called Rethinking Internationalisms. In this introductory article, Ria Kapoor, Jessica Reinisch, Margot Tudor and Daniel Laqua ask, how can marginalised stories of internationalism be recovered?

Please do read my recently published article in Past and Present on caste, and indentured Indian sanitary workers on ships and in colonial South Africa.

Past and Present@pastpresentsoc.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New on advance access: "Indentured Indian workers and the politics of race, caste, and sanitation at sea and in colonial South Africa, c.1860–1911" by Pritam Singh (@lsehy.bsky.social) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...

For anyone with a digital legal history project: please consider nominating it for the ASLH's 2026 Mary L. Dudziak Digital Legal History Prize. Submissions are due June 1, 2026. Full details here: aslh.net/award/mary-l... #legalhistory